Richard Cohen May Have A Problem With Interracial Marriage, But Few Conservatives Do

The Washington Post's Richard Cohen wrote a bizarre column today in which he said "people with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children." He added, "to cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all."

This was obviously offensive to interracial couples (how the hell did this passage make it through editing at the Post?) and Cohen is taking well-deserved heat for it. Somewhat lost in that discussion: Cohen was also unfair to "cultural conservatives" and the tea party, who seem to be way less hung up on interracial marriage than Cohen is.

In July, Gallup found that 87% of Americans approve of interracial marriage, including 83% of those in the South and 70% of those aged 65 and older. Gallup didn't provide partisan or ideological breakdowns for their 2013 survey, but in 2011 they found that 78% of conservatives and 77% of Republicans approved of interracial marriage.

Lots of racial and cultural issues continue to divide America regionally and ideologically. But interracial marriage is one that we have mostly gotten past. Except, apparently, for Richard Cohen.